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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Mustard Oil, Outlawed? Dangerous? Conspiracy?

I've used mustard oil to toast/fry some sesame seeds to use in an Asian BBQ sauce because I wanted that sesame taste and a twist. It worked great! That was off the coast of West Africa on a ship were I found odd food supplies in the nooks and crannies of different pantry areas.

I found about 4 or 5 bottles of Mustard Oil (were feeding about 500 people daily so that's not enough to do anything big) and I thought 'hmmm, I never remember working with this or what It tastes like...' so I did a little research on it.

The following is information from Wikipedia (I freely edited so as not to bore you), pay attention to the 3 and 4th paragraphs:

This oil has a strong smell, a little like strong cabbage, a hot nutty taste, and is much used for cooking in India and Bangladesh...

In India, mustard oil is generally heated almost to smoking before it is used for cooking; this may be an attempt to reduce the content of noxious substances such as erucic acid, and does reduce the strong smell and taste. , Mustard oil is not considered suitable for human consumption in the United States, Canada and the European Union due to the high content of erucic acid, which is considered noxious, although mustard oil with low erucic acid content is available. To get around the restriction in Western countries, the oil is often sold "for external use only" in stores catering to Indian immigrants, as in North India, mustard oil is also used for rub-downs and massages (see ayurveda), thought to improve blood circulation, muscular development and skin texture; the oil is also antibacterial.

In India, the restrictions on mustard oil are viewed as an attempt by foreign multi-national corporations to replace mustard oil with canola oil, a variety of rapeseed with a low erucic acid content, but often from a genetically modified canola. The East and North Indians have been using it for ages and deny that there is enough evidence for the toxicity of erucic acid, instead maintaining that mustard oil is beneficial to human health because of its low saturated fat content, ideal ratio of omega-3 and omega 6 fatty acids (15g of omega 3 fats per 100g serving), content of antioxidants and vitamin E, as well as being cold-pressed (extracted at 45-50 degrees Celsius).